The struggling St. Mark's Bookshop was dealt more bad news Tuesday when its owners were told they will not receive a rent reduction.

Owners Bob Contant and Terry McCoy found out their bid for a $5,000 rent cut was nixed by landlord Cooper Union in a meeting with T.C. Westcott, a vice president for finance and administration at the arts and engineering school.

Advertisement

"They don't feel they can do anything in terms of the rent," McCoy said. "She started out by telling us that Cooper is really losing a lot of money."

Westcott told them Cooper Union is "broke," McCoy said.

She did offer Contant and McCoy a deal: They can defer a month's rent and pay it back over time.

Since the economic crisis in 2008, St. Mark's Bookshop's profits have slumped dramatically. Word that the iconic bookstore is facing closure prompted more than 40,000 people to sign a petition to save it.

McCoy said the outcome of Tuesday's meeting, while disappointing, is not devastating because the community has rallied around the bookstore in recent weeks.

"People have gone out of their way to patronize the store," McCoy said. "It's helped us enormously."

The owners are set to meet with the president of Cooper Union, Jamshed Bharucha, tomorrow.